Harmonix Layoffs…Say It Ain’t So-oooooo

MTV Games has confirmed to Joystiq that 39 positions at developer Harmonix were eliminated today. The move was part of a restructuring to “better align [the] staffing to best suit [Harmonix’s] product development plans and schedules moving forward.” The publisher claims that “those affected were primarily in QA. The others affected ranged from administrative to other various roles within the company.” At least one staff designer seems to have fallen under the “other” category.

Although Electronic Arts has a partnership with Harmonix, these layoffs are “totally and completely unrelated” to EA’s issues.

2 responses to “Harmonix Layoffs…Say It Ain’t So-oooooo”

Man that sucks for them. I’ve been on both sides – I’ve had to layoff honest, hard working people, and I’ve been laid off myself a few times too, it never feels good for anyone involved. QA people are important to any software project, but are usually the first to go. Hopefully they can hit the ground running, there’s lots of IT companies in that area. Can’t say I didn’t see this coming as every single EA studio has been hit (Pandemic Studios was the worst yet).

Less than two years ago, I was an implementation consultant for a software startup. Like Simon says, we had tough times, and the first to go was the entire QA team, including management. Our company felt the pain of losing such key engineers. Wishing the best to the HMX folks that got cut.

I am Boston-based and working in IT (not gaming specifically). If any HMX people want to send me some info, I will see if I can get your info in front of some hiring managers that I know. Best of luck!